ABSTRACT
Motorway R2 will be a part of the Slovakia southern corridor connecting west part of country to east. The tunnel Soroška 4.2 km long will be a part of this motorway. It is placed in Slovak karst - listed as UNESCO protected area. Slovak karst is known for a lot of caverns and caves. Cavern in the rock environment can be filled by gas or water. This causes next change in stress state. The next parameter coming to an equation is a permeability of cavern boundary and difference between pore pressure in rock environment and pressure in cavern. The authors present an idea of pseudo-discrete continuum model of the caverns or collapsed caves. This model conducted study the behavior of caves in the primary failure mode that is associated with initial breakage of the rubble skeleton. The model is a combination of the discrete particle assembly generation and the finite element analysis of this assembly.
